Bar council gives protest call, AG’s office opposes it

LUCKNOW: Lawyers of the state have decided to stage protest demonstrations on Tuesday against the recent cane-charge on their fraternity by cops in Meerut when they were demanding a separate bench of the high court in western Uttar Pradesh.

However, advocate-general (AG) Raghvendra Singh has rejected the protest call and asked lawyers’ associations across the state not to pay attention to the call given by the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh for demonstrations. A special committee of the bar council, comprising three members, decides issues related with lawyers and the advocate general heads it as chairman. The other two members are advocates Srinath Tripathi of Varanasi and Praveen Kumar Singh of Allahabad.

On Sunday, the two members of the special committee convened a meeting and decided to give a call for the statewide protest. “Lawyers’ association of Meerut had sent a letter informing us about the cane-charge on lawyers on October 16. We requested the advocate general to convene a meeting of the special committee on the issue. But due to his busy schedule, he could convene it. So, we went ahead with the meeting today (Sunday) and decided to give a call for statewide protest,” Tripathi told HT over phone.

Later, Ram Chandra Mishra, retired additional district judge, who is secretary the bar council, issued a letter nullifying the protest decision. On October 16, Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi was on a visit to Meerut to attend a function. During his visit, lawyers staged a protest demanding separate HC bench for western UP . To disperse the mob, cops had canecharged the lawyers.